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Cassandra, the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, had the gift of prophecy yet no one would believe her. Today when artist Nalini Malani uses Cassandra’s myth in her works, the world seems to be not only paying heed but also listening with awe and adulation.
Easily one of India’s most illustrious artists with participation in no less than 20 biennales, not only is Malani having a retrospective of her works at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi but also several exhibitions around the world. The artist whose works invariably return to issues of religious conflict, environmental degradation, violence and how it affects the fair sex agrees that artists too are blessed with prophetic powers. She opines, "Yes artists do have a sense of foreboding and premonition. Yet another reason I would like to caution others is for history if not remembered has a nasty habit of recurring." Born in 1946, she was not even one-year-old when Partition happened yet the cataclysmic event comes back to haunt her artistic consciousness. Living in equally turbulent times that have witnessed horrific events such as 1984 and Gujarat riots, she believes, "Women bear the brunt of upheaval more than men and have to often carry the import of nation on their bodies." She traces the trajectory of impact on women by using multi-layered narratives employing mythical figures like Sita and Radha. Myths, she insists, are universal truths we all are born with and can easily relate to. She says, "I use these to reflect on the contemporary reality as a link language."
To make a more emphatic connection, her theory of seduction too comes in handy. As she elucidates, "The work of art has to be beautiful and aesthetic only then will it draw the viewer in." She uses the analogy of flower and bees to impress upon how art ought to affect the viewer. She adds, "Just as the bee is left free to do its job, the viewer should be left open to take what he or she wants." Disagreeing with skeptics who think that the world is peopled with art illiterates who may not take back anything from a work of art, she muses, "We are not doing enough to educate and cultivate them." Viewers are rather important to her artistic world. In the 1990s, when she presented her first installation work, public became a participant, to watch her at work, and discuss the creative process. Similarly, when she made ephemeral wall drawings and then erased the same, the idea was to make people carry home the memory of the work, collate it with their experiences just as they do with a theatre performance.
Her long association with theatre is what led to her ingenuous technique of shadow play that coalesces light and colour with rotating cylinders. Early on in life she realised that Indians respond more to moving images. Pioneer of video works in India, no single material or medium is enough to hold her fertile imagination. However, her imagery does not spring out of a vacuum but is backed by painstaking research. So, she would not start her next series on history of music as imbibed through courtesans till she knows enough. As she is going through tomes of history books some lent to her by her historian daughter, she quips, "Knowledge is not antithetical to intuitive and impulsive powers of an artist but go hand in hand." Women protagonists and Malani too remain inseparable. She quips, "Why not, I am a woman." However, as she underlines the urgency to tap into the feminine intuition, she isn't talking of the feminine power in women alone but also in men and reminds us of the irrefutable Ardhnareshwar concept to sustain the world. But can art and artists transform society? Honestly, she doesn't know the answer. All she hopes is her cry would be heard. Whether others cry along with her or not, judging by the response her works have generated worldwide fetching her honours and laurels like Fukuoka Prize, her voice is certainly ringing out loud and clear. However, she won't let its resonance deter her from her quest. Be it "In search of Vanished Blood" or the Cassandra phenomenon, steadfastly she would continue to remind that all is not well with the world. On the world map Back in time in 1987, Nalini Malani organised Through the Looking Glass, the very first exhibition for female artists in India. Since then, she agrees the scenario has changed for the better and today's generation of female artists have to face lesser challenges. However, that does not mean it's no longer dominated by men. "Were it otherwise, would the National Gallery of Modern Art hold three back to back exhibitions of male artists this year?" she questions. However, nothing can stop Malani, whose works are housed at Museum of Modern Art, New York, Hauser and Wirth, London. Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka et al, from being a toast of the world.
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